The Right to be Forgotten and ‘Procedural Fairness’ (TU, RE v Google LLC (Opinion))

Article summary

Information Law analysis: The right to be forgotten is powerful. In the Internet age, it is core aspect of an individual’s privacy rights. Left unchecked, however, it can have a stifling effect on wider societal interests in freedom of expression and information. The Court of Justice has been working through this tension for a number of years in a well-known line of cases concerning internet search engines. The case to which this opinion relates considers the existence of the right to be forgotten in circumstances where the truth of information subject to a de-referencing request is in doubt. In an opinion which may (or may not) be followed by the Court of Justice, AG Pitruzzella proposes a solution to this issue based on ‘procedural fairness’: the burden of establishing the truth of the underlying information should be split between the individual requesting de-referencing and the operator of the search engine. Written by Chris Kemp, senior associate at...